Will Cardinals Try and Keep Budda Baker?

Budda Baker wants out from the Arizona Cardinals, will the team try to keep him around?

It's been a few days since news first broke of Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker requesting a trade from the team, and the news of Baker wanting out spurred interest from clubs all across the league. 

Baker reportedly told the Cardinals earlier in the offseason to either make him the highest paid at his position or trade him. With Arizona clearly entering a rebuild stage, handing over that kind of money just doesn't make sense. 

With ten days remaining until the 2023 NFL Draft, the Cardinals are forced to make a decision on what to do with Baker, a fan-favorite who has stuck through some tough times and earned the respect of everybody across the league with how he carries himself on and off the field. 

NFL insider Ian Rapoport says the Cardinals - unsurprisingly - want to keep him around if possible.

"My understanding is this is something that has been going on for several months for new general manager Monti Ossenfort to navigate and negotiate through and basically figure out with two years left, Budda Baker wants an adjustment to his contract," Rapoport said.

"[Baker] wants to be among the highest paid [at his position] … Derwin James is currently the highest-paid safety in the NFL and it does sound like he would like to make around there. I think for the Cardinals it was more of a situation where they're like, 'this is one of the heartbeats of our defense, this is a linchpin, he's a great player and a great human - we just don't want to trade him.'

"Budda Baker is one of those guys that you build around, not try to replace with a second-round draft pick. We'll see what they end up doing but I don't get the sense they want to move him at all, the question is do they give him an adjustment to his contract?" 

Full video:

From NFL Now: The #AZCardinals have been dealing with a trade request from star Budda Baker for the last few months. He and the team both have very strong (and opposing) views. Buckle up. pic.twitter.com/DVqXCFEvMu

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 17, 2023

Baker is due $13.09 million and $14.2 million the final two years of his deal. He's currently 27-years-old and is set to be a free agent in 2025. 

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